Do Tell
by danceDANCEdance
Summary: Kurama contemplates telling his mother he is a demon; Hiei deals with his growing kitsune addiction and of course there's a bad guy. SHOUNEN-AI! (kuramaxHiei)COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**'Do Tell'**

by Keph

(in which kurama contemplates telling his mother he is a demon and hiei deals with his growing kitsune addiction)

_**Author's Note #1**: CONTAINS (lots of) SHOUNEN-AI! DON'T LIKE DON'T READ!_

_**Author's Note #2: **Continues where my other story "The Waiting Time" left off-Kurama broke a seal Koenma had used on Hiei's jagan during his arrest. However, the way he broke the seal was force-feeding Hiei (by mouth) some of his blood , youko blood, a substance most demons know for two reasons: it is highly intoxicating and highly addicting._

_**Author's Note #3: **Don't own Yu-Yu Hakusho....sigh._

_**Author's Note #4: **This story occurs right after the boys return home from their fight at Maze Castle and before Hiei knows that his sister has been kidnapped by the humans._

_**Author's Note #6: ** I need to give credit for the "intoxicating youko blood" to a very good kuramaXhiei writer who goes by "arigatomina". I don't know if she's on , but she has a story called "Bloodlust" that is very, very awesome. :)_

_**Author's Note #5: **Thank you to everyone who reviewed "The Waiting Time" (a bit arigatou to you all for your really nice words!:):_

_******Dragon's Emerald**_

_**ko-krama**_

_**Kurama's Oni**_

_**Su da 'mazin banna eater**_

_**Shadow Priestess**_

Kurama was doing his homework.

"The human body is..." Kurama read and paused. Outside the window to his room he heard a faint rustling. He waited a moment and the sound subsided. He returned to the page. "The human body is..." The rustle again. A human would have discarded the sound as the wind, a bird, their imagination, but Kurama was not human and the sound didn't fool him.

He closed the biology book with a sigh. He stood and walked to the window and leaned out.

"Hiei, come in already. I know you're here." he said with a small smile.

Silence, a moment of hesitation and then the red-eyed demon stood beside him, scowling.

To Kurama's raised eyebrow, Hiei answered, "My jagan saw a lot of youki around here." Then he added, "Not that it matters."

"Youki?" Kurama said. "I didn't feel anything."

"Hn." Hiei sneered and his eyes leveled on Kurama's stomach. Reflexively Kurama curled an arm around the injury there. "Perhaps you're weaker than you realize."

Kurama just laughed. It was true. He had nearly been gutted twice in such a short amount of time. Although Hiei had healed the wound he himself had given him, it was a superficial fix. Even so, he had thought something was watching him lately. His eye fell on Hiei and the Jiganshi snarled and turned away from his smile. He stalked to the desk Kurama had been sitting at and perched himself there, arms crossed over his chest, eyes turned away and out the window.

It was sunset now. The light coming through the window made his face less sevier, softer. It was a strange sight.

"Kurama." Hiei now said.

Kurama had taken back his seat and had begun to read the same line in the biology book for the third time when the fire demon spoke.

"What do you know about a jagan?"

Kurama tapped his pencil on the desk. "Less than you, I imagine." he answered then sighed at the glare Hiei cast him. "A jagan, a third eye for the spirit. It boosts spirit energy, grants telepathy, allows the bearer to see what is unseen."

"Or what is far away." Hiei added, gazing out the window again.

Kurama tilted his head. "Yes. That's right." he said. "And you, I know, use that feature quite often. Yukina..."

At the mention of her name, Hiei turned his way. His face was perfectly blank.

"Hiei?" Kurama said. "Has something happened to Yukina?"

Hiei smiled ironically. "I don't know." he said. "I haven't been able to find her."

"And you believe it is a malfunction of the jagan?"

Hiei just looked at him.

Kurama sighed. "I'm sorry, Hiei. I will do everything I can to help. Just ask it of me, but about jagans I simply do not know very much."

The little demon said. "Hn."

He fell silent again and Kurama turned back to his biology. "The human body is an amazing machine." he read. At least he would read one sentance tonight. He sighed, closing the book.

"Hiei. Wouldn't it be easier to tell Yukina the truth-then perhaps when she is in trouble she would be able to call to you?"

"Don't be stupid, Fox."

"Am I?" Kurama leaned back in his chair, his hair falling blood red over his shoulders. "I do believe others would call it a remarkable insight and some would say I was simply being logical."

"Hn." Hiei said then as Kurama suddenly heard the sound of his mother's footsteps coming up the sidewalk. The Jiganshi followed his eyes out the window and he sniffed the air and laughed. He knew she was there, too. "Don't talk like you're the truth-telling kind, Fox."

Kurama just blinked at him.

"How much of you does your human mother know? What do you call yourself," he pointed at Kurama, "Like this?"

"Shuiichi."

"Shuiichi." Hiei spat. "Why do YOU not tell your human mother the truth about yourself, 'Shuiichi'?"

Kurama's eyes narrowed.

From outside he heard his mother opening her purse, searching for her keys. Faint and soft came the smell of her perfume.

Hiei laughed. "Perhaps because you, too, know your past well enough and understand that you can never be more than you are."

"What am I, Hiei?"

The answer was simple. "A theif. A demon." he paused. "A killer."

Kurama said nothing, his eyes were wide now, his mouth slightly opened.

"Hn. Where is your logic now?"

"Hiei."

Suddenly the red-eyed demon reached up and pulled the bandana from his jagan. The third eye slipped open, plump and purple, it gazed wide and seemingly blind from his forehead. Hiei stood.

"Hiei-what are you doing?" Kurama said as Hiei jumped from the desk and began to make his way to the door to Kurama's room.

Kurama heard his mother. The keys were in the door. The lock clicked once, twice and opened. She was removing her shoes.

"Hiei!" He hissed.

"What if your mother saw just what you really are, Kurama? What if she saw me? Why are you looking at me like that? They're very _logical _questions."

"Hiei! Wait!"

"Hn." Hiei smiled and reached towards the door. For a moment Kurama didn't move. Perhaps Hiei's words were true. He had lived so long behind the mask of this life he didn't try to justify it any more. But be that as it may....

"Shuiichi! Tadaima!"

It was his mother's voice.

His heart started to pound and a voice in his head cried loud, "_No_!"

"Hiei!" The little demon heard from behind him. He was on the verge of disapearing at an impossible speed when he felt something knock into his back and down he went.

"Get off of me, Fox!" He growled as he flipped himself over beneath the wide-eyed human. Kurama grabbed his arms and entwined their legs. Perhaps he was weak from the fight at Maze Castle, but panic proved a very effective cure. "Hn." Hiei said as Kurama's eyes settled on the doorway. He could see the human woman better than the Fox. She had heard something. She was climbing the stairs. "What if I yell now, Kurama?" Kurama's eyes were too wide. His chest was heaving. It made Hiei pause. Did he fear discovery that much? "She will come running, you know. You may be very clever, but even you can't keep me down much longer." From the tightness in Kurama's mouth, the way his eyes swept across his face, the shaking in his arms as he fought to keep Hiei down, he knew it was the truth. Hiei laughed. Had the Fox thought himself so much better than him? Hiei opened his mouth to shout, felt the air build in his lungs, the tightening of the muscles in his throat, but no sound ever escaped.

Not one peep.

The cry was there, but Kurama did the only thing he could do with his hands pinning Hiei's arms, his legs Hiei's legs. He brought his mouth down upon the unexpecting mouth of the demon and held on for all he was worth.

Hiei convulsed around him, the sound swollowed by the move and Kurama winced inwardly.

Once he had done this little trick to help the fire demon remove a seal Koenma had placed on his jagan and after that he was surprised Hiei hadn't murdered him in his sleep, amazed he had actually thanked him by healing the sword-wound in his gut. Now...

Kurama slowly moved his mouth away. The phone had started to ring. He heard his mother turn and start back down the stars.

Saved by the bell as it were.

"Hiei." Kurama breathed, his mouth hovering above the little demon's. There was no reply. Kurama pulled away, and as he did so he saw that Hiei's eyes were closed, although the jagan peered up just as it always did, sightless and piercing. "Hiei?" The fire demon said nothing, just lay there with his eyes closed. Then, as Kurama was reaching out to him, confused, his neck arched up and he caught the Fox's mouth with his own. "Hiei! Umph!" Kurama cried as he felt an arm snake around his neck and pulled him closer to that little mouth.

Suddenly, he felt a tongue in his mouth, wrapping around his own tongue and tugging it. He was too suprised to do anything about it and by the time a belated protest came to his brain, he felt Hiei's sharp teeth bearing down on him.

Kurama hissed in pain as he felt Hiei begin to press against his mouth almost desperatly.

"Hiei!" Kurama managed and touched the smaller demon's chest.

Immediatly Hiei went still and although Kurama's mouth still touched his own, there was no pressure. Hiei shivered and pulled away.

Kurama stood and touched his mouth, wiping away at the blood that was on his lips.

"Hiei?" he said.

Hiei stayed where he was, on his knees, and only slowly did his eyes open, languid and hungry only to widen to an almost impossible size. With a shaking hand, Hiei brought a hand to his own mouth, his eyes on Kurama.

That look he was giving Kurama was too wide, too scared. Kurama took a step toward him, a hand outreached. "Hiei..." he began, but Hiei gave him one more lingering glance, too confused and dazed to belong to the fire demon, then there was a shift in the air, like a sudden gust of wind and Kurama was alone.

There was a knock at his door.

Kurama answered it.

"Are you OK, Shuiichi, I heard..." She caught a good look at him and his bleeding lips. "Shuiichi!" she cried and touched his cheek.

"It's nothing mother...." he said and made some excuse that he forgot as soon as he said it, but the entire time his eyes were on the window and the tree there moving slightly to the left, slightly to the right as some new breeze disturbed its perfect equilibrium.

...to be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

Kurama sat at lunch on the roof of his school.

The wind blew soft. It was turning Fall now and there was a chill in the air. Kurama sighed as heat and cold mixed high above and brushed against his face.

He finished his lunch and pulled open his bag. He didn't always sit alone at lunch although sometimes he prefered to. Especially here so high above everything, that much closer to the sky.

Sighing, Kurama pulled out his biology book. He liked it here, but that's not why he wanted to be alone.

"The human body is an amazing machine." he read and stopped and his eyes fell upon the hands holding the book. Those two, pale, human hands holding the book. Slowly, he reached up and brushed his fingers against his hair. It was soft, but it was just human hair.

What was he thinking?

That was simple. He was thinking of things far away and unseen. He closed his eyes without meaning to and imagined it wasn't the wind of the Human World against his face, but that of home. He let the scent of the humans and their trees and the millions of blades of grass and stalks of flowers become that of home. Abruptly he stopped.

He laughed and pulled his legs closer to his chest, rested his head there.

"I am Youko Kurama." he said to the sky as though it had asked. "I am..."

He stopped and picked the biology book up again. He flipped ahead.

He knew enough about the human machine.

He knew far too much.

He let his head fall forward, hair covering his eyes. He could still feel the sun, the breeze. He could cover his eyes, but when he opened them he would still be where he started, wouldn't he?

With a smile he shook his head and stood.

Walking to the guard rails, he leaned against them, resting on his elbows and gazed across the city.

What if he were to up and leave now? Forget his mother he knew he could never forget and the life of perfect student, perfect son?

If he could do that, then he would be Hiei.

"Hiei..." he whispered to himself. He closed his eyes and tried to feel for the fire-demon's youki. For a moment he thought there was a glimmer not very far off, but when he opened his eyes it was gone.

Was the little demon standing atop some near-by tree, watching him with the same too wide eyes he had seen yesterday when his little prank got out of his control?

It was funny, wasn't it?

They both tried so hard to stay in control, but were they really?

One little taste of youko blood and Hiei was lusting after it. One little reality call and Kurama was questioning everything.

A tilting balance.

A kiss.

Kurama looked across the city and the Autumn wind blew through his hair.

....to be continued...


	3. Chapter 3

In fact Hiei was not standing on top of some tree.

He stood on top of a flag-pole, thank you very much.

His eyes weren't that wide. Not really. But they were fixed on Kurama.

For a moment, Hiei had thought he had been seen, but then it seemed Kurama's attention wavered and he let a little of the control he had taken of his youki to lessen.

Kurama just stood for a long time. He barely moved. A real human could not have stayed so utterly still. If not for his hair, moving with the wind, Kurama would have been a statue. It was only when a bell chimed from within the school that Kurama started and turned and began to run.

Hiei considered flitting across this space and appearing before Kurama.

At the last minute he stopped himself.

He knew, hadn't he, that youko blood was intoxicating. He had known the instant he tasted it for the first time. But he wasn't thinking of blood now, was he?

Shaking his head, Hiei turned away.

He was about to disapear when his jagan turned on his forehead and focused on a particular window in the school.

Particularly on a human boy there with red hair.

"Kurama." Hiei whispered and frowned at the sound of his own voice.

There was a tree closer to that window. Hiei stared at it without moving, then lowered his head, closed his eyes. "Hn." he said and ran the distance from the pole to the tree in half the time it took to close an eye.

He didn't need a reason to be doing this.

He wanted to be here so he was here.

Kurama didn't even notice him. He was reading a book with "Biology" on the cover and a human body overlayed with bones and organs. He didn't seem to be reading it. Even from the distance Hiei stood from him he could tell that his eyes were unfocused, his expression turned inward.

Hiei took a step closer.

Kurama, this body he looked at now, this 'Shuiichi Minamino' was human. It smelled human, but it wasn't. It looked human, but it wasn't. Hiei had not seen the real form of Youko Kurama, but he had heard enough about him. Every apparition and more than a handful of humans had heard of Youko Kurama. Heartless, cruel, Youko Kurama, the master thief. He knew that before him was that one, but that look in those green eyes when he had thought that Hiei would reveal his little secret-that wasn't Youko at all.

"What a fool." Hiei said and started.

Through the window, Kurama was looking right at him.

Hiei scowled, but something was wrong.

Kurama was standing, coming towards the window.

His classmates watched him, faces various degrees of curiosity, confusion.

The teacher was approaching him.

Kurama had put a hand to his mouth and was shouting something. Only slowly did Hiei finally hear him.

Ironic. Hadn't it been the reason Hiei had been watching over Kurama all this time?

"Watch out!" Kurama shouted.

Hiei laughed and drew his sword.

"Hiei!"

Attack.

...to be continued....


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, I think Minamino's cracked."

"Well. I knew SOMETHING had to be wrong with him."

Kurama wasn't listening to his classmates.

His eyes were locked on a battle taking place just outside the window of his classroom. A battle which moved so fast that to everyone else it looked like he was watching the tree branches move in the wind.

"Minamino, please return to your seat." The sensei was saying and touched his arm.

It was like a jolt.

He pulled away from the teacher and settled his eyes back on the fight.

Hiei had been suprised, but that didn't account for the way he was fighting.

Unfocused, almost...clumsy.

The demon he fought should not have landed even one blow and yet there was Hiei, bleeding.

"Hiei!" Kurama cried and ran from the room.

Behind him there was a deep and thorough silence. "Who's Hiei?" someone said.

"No idea." was the answer.

"It's always the bright ones that go nuts." The teacher sighed then returned to the board.

...to be continued...


	5. Chapter 5

Kurama ran through the school, throwing open the front doors and nearly trampling a student coming back from a late dentist appointment. At least he didn't have to get that molar pulled anymore.

Kurama crouched and pulled a rose from his hair.

"Rose whip!" he cried and took a running leap into the trees.

There were three of them. One of the demons snarled at him as he approached, whip raised. He couldn't see Hiei anymore.

"Kurama!" One of them said. "Ku-"

Kurama arced his arm down and one half of the demon slowly slid away from the other half.

"Hiei?" Kurama shouted as the second demon descended.

He could hear the sounds of swords and the faint gasp of pain. It was Hiei's voice.

"Hiei!" Kurama shouted.

The second demon bared its teeth in what must have been a grin and growled as it raised a clawed hand. Kurama had had his eyes on Hiei and moved a second too slow. He gasped as those talons ripped into the flesh of his chest. Bright red blood blossomed on his uniform.

Kurama grimaced and bared his own teeth. The demon was laughing. Of course, not for long.

"Rose whip!" Kurama cried again and the demon fell to pieces.

Literally.

Kurama jumped from branch to branch, eyes searching for the sounds his ears heard too well.

"There..."he whispered and took a final leap.

Hiei was nearly to the ground, his sword raised above his head. His attacker had a two handed grip on his own sword and despite everything Hiei could do, he wouldn't block the newest thrust.

Kurama didn't have time to wonder why such a weak demon was defeating Hiei. He didn't have time to wonder why Hiei had turned his red eyes to him as he appeared on the edge of the battle. He raised the whip once and took advantage of the fact that Hiei's assailant was too wrapped up in the little demon's slaughter to notice his own.

It died with a look of perfect surprise on its face.

Hiei pushed the body off of him and regarded it with a scowl.

"Hiei!" Kurama said as he jumped to the branch beside him. "Are you alright?"

Hiei didn't answer. He didn't look up. Perhaps it was just wounded pride. The fire demon was badly injured.

"Hiei?" Kurama said again and reached towards him.

"Don't touch me, Fox." Hiei said, faced away.

"Hiei. You..." Kurama began and touched his shoulder. Hiei jumped and despite his injuries and the fact that he was tottering on the edge of consciousness, he raised his sword and his eyes narrowed as they glared at Kurama.

"Don't touch me, Kurama." he said. Kurama stood still for a moment. "Stupid...Fox..." Hiei murmured, then fell to his knees, his eyes closing. Kurama grabbed him before he fell all the way.

"Hiei." he whispered and pulled the Jiganshi up in his arms and slowly began to make his way down from the tree.

His attention on the fire demon, Kurama never noticed the eyes watching them or the slow smile that laughed in their wake.

...to be continued...


	6. Chapter 6

Hiei didn't wake until nightfall.

When he did, his eyes fluttered and opening, he didn't know where he was at first. There was a roof over his head and walls all around him. Then he saw a familiar window and a desk and then he saw Kurama.

"It's alright, Hiei." Kurama said, leaning forward from his chair. "You're in my home."

"Hn." Hiei said and his eyes turned dark.

"You were injured." Kurama explained, knowing there was no use.

Hiei gave him a look quite short of appreciation and turned away towards the wall. The fact that he hadn't flitted out of the room as soon as his eyes opened was proof of his weakness, but Kurama knew better than to point that out.

"Hiei?" Kurama continued. He wanted to ask why he had been caught so unaware. He had mentioned something about his jagan. Was that it?

"Hn."

The house was empty besides him and Kurama. The woman was gone. All that was left was the smell of Kurama coming from too close by.

"I have made a mistake."

"What mistake, Fox?" Hiei growled.

"You know very well what mistake." Kurama said and his words were sharper than he had meant to use. "Hiei, when I unsealed your jagan, it wasn't just myself I was risking. I think you've realized that."

"Hn."

"To be honest, it was the farthest thing on my mind at the time. It was the one consequence I didn't think of because I simply didn't believe it would occur." He paused and his green eye lit on the Jiganshi and he reached out a hand and touched his shoulder. Hiei pulled away and snarled. "But it has, hasn't it?"

Hiei said nothing. If the Fox knew him saying it again would make no difference.

"I'm sorry, Hiei." Kurama said and stood.

Hiei heard him leave the room, heard the door shut behind him. The little demon turned his eyes towards the window. The moon was full tonight and the light was caught in the tree.

Hiei had known, that was true. The blood of a youko, once tasted, becomes more than temptation or desire. The fact that he was laying in Kurama's bed, the smell of Kurama rubbing against his skin did little to help.

He closed his eyes and allowed himself the luxery of surrender.

It was a short repreave.

Soon enough Kurama returned. Hiei didn't have to turn to him to see him. He stood in the doorway and in his arms were a small stack of pillows and blankets. Silently, he set them on the floor, then turned to Hiei. "Hiei, you are welcomed to stay the night. Tomorrow there is no school, at least. My mother will be home soon, but if she comes here I will say you are a friend from school."

"Hn."

Kurama smiled. "I suppose you were right, you know."

"About what?" Was the disinterested reply.

"I am not the truth-telling kind and I would not tell my mother what I am. In my mind I say, 'not yet', but I wonder if even that is the truth."

"Hn."

Hiei turned over, and Kurama was standing there, the moonlight on his shoulders, his face. "Good-night, Hiei." Kurama said.

This was the human, Hiei thought, looking at him with green eyes. It didn't matter. Hiei didn't care about the look Kurama was giving him. He didn't care that the human eyes were sad and that Kurama wanted him to say something, although they both knew that wasn't going to happen.

He heard Kurama settle down to sleep, listened as his breath turned long and knew he wasn't awake. Hiei himself didn't sleep that night. He listened to the sound of the Fox breathing and the sound of his own thoughts all the night through.

A human mother, a demon mother. In the end were they any different?

....to be continued...


	7. Chapter 7

When Kurama woke up, Hiei was gone.

At first, he thought that the demon had simply vanished to wherever he goes. It was only when he heard Hiei's voice coming from downstars that he started and when he heard his mother's voice replying he thought his heart would stop.

He jumped for the door, and bound over the stairs.

Breathing hard in the doorway to the kitchen, two pairs of eyes settled on him.

"Shuiichi?" His mother said, setting down a tea-cup. The smile she had faltered for a moment. "Shuiichi, are you alright?"

"Yes, 'Shuiichi', what's wrong?" Hiei replied. He sat behind his mother so the woman didn't see that the concerned voice and the sneering face didn't match.

"Hiei?" Kurama started.

"Kurama." Hiei said and the look on his face truly was demonic. What was he doing?

"Are you boys hungry?" Kurama's mother asked.

"No." Answered Kurama.

"Yes." Answered Hiei.

Kurama stared at Hiei like a drowning man while the look Hiei gave Kurama could best be described by that of the cat who had just caught the canary and was slowly pulling out its feathers one by one.

Kurama sighed and walked over to his mother and kissed her on the cheek. "Good morning, mother." he said.

"Good morning, Shuiichi. You must have been tired to have slept so late."

Kurama just smiled.

As his mother set about cooking breakfast, Kurama sat next to Hiei and hissed in a soft voice. "What are you doing, Hiei?"

"Nothing, 'Shuiichi'. Merely getting to know your mother a little better." Hiei wasn't even trying to keep his voice down. "After all, I have heard so much about her."

"Good things, I hope." Kurama's mother laughed.

"That is all I have heard." Hiei said.

Kurama searched Hiei's face. Perhaps the little demon was just curious. Perhaps he was just evil. In any case, he wasn't really doing anything and Kurama was releaved to see that the bandana over his jagan was firmly in place. Kurama let himself relax-minuetly.

"Do you and Shuiichi have many classes together?" Kurama's mother asked. She was putting a pan on the stove now. Her back was to the boys. Hiei looked at Kurama and Kurama shrugged.

"No." Hiei answered.

"Which ones do you have together?"

Hiei thought for a moment. "Fighting." he answered.

Kurama sighed. "He means P.E., mother."

Kurama's mother laughed. "So, what is my Shuiichi like at school, Hiei?"

Hiei grinned using all his teeth. "He's..." His eyes settled on Kurama. "Different."

"Oh?"

"Hiei..." Kurama said and his eyes lit in warning.

"Yes. Different. Does that suprise you?" said Hiei and didn't wait for her answer. "He's not the same human you see now when he not here. There is something that changes in him. Like he is a wholey different creature. Does that frighten you?"

Kurama looked stricken. "What are you doing?" he mouthed.

"Hn." Hiei said.

However, the two demons were so caught up in their glaring contest they didn't notice the human woman at all, but soon enough the did. After all, it was hard to miss all that laughing.

"What's so amusing?" Hiei said.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Kurama's mother managed, her face bright. "You speak very strangely."

"What's so amusing about the way I speak?" Hiei growled.

"You make Shuiichi sound almost...not human!" She was laughing so hard that she didn't even notice Kurama, but Hiei did. He sat on his stool with a perfectly schooled expession on his face. "People are always different, Hiei, depending on where they are, but they are also the same, too." She said as the laughter faded into a small smile.

"Hn." Hiei said.

"Breakfast is almost ready. Shuiichi?" She had turned to Kurama and saw the look on his face that was too forced. "Are you alright, Shuiichi?"

"Yes, mother." he said, but he couldn't bring himself to smile back at her.

...to be continued...


	8. Chapter 8

They brought their plates up to Kurama's room.

Hiei sniffed at the food and even tried a bite. "Disgusting human food." he said and set the plate down.

Kurama on the other hand had settled on the edge of his bed. He drank his orange juice slowly and pushed around the food on his plate, but didn't eat any of it. He usually loved his mother's cooking.

"Hiei?" He said after a long time had passed.

"Hn."

"Why did you do that?"

"I didn't do anything, Fox. Does she know what you are any more than she did yesterday? I was merely curious."

"And what has your curiousity gained you?"

"The fact that although you profess it so, she is merely a human, just like all the others."

Kurama was silent.

Hiei crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't let it bother you, Kurama. It's pathetic. Live out a life in this human world if you want. Tell her or don't tell her. But if you do, I think you know the response you will get."

"Hiei."

"What's with that look, Fox. You almost look scared." Hiei stood and walked until he stood right before Kurama. "I would have rather died than did what you did, Fox, binding my soul to a human body would simply have not been an option." He leaned forward. "It has made you weak."

Kurama's mouth slowly lengthened into a smile. "And you have no weaknesses, Hiei?" he said in a low voice.

"Hn." Hiei said and began to pull away, but Kurama caught his arm.

"Why don't you answer me, Hiei?"

The voice was bland, carefully neutral, but Hiei heard the anger beneath it. What he had done had indeed scared the Fox, but now that fear was becoming a completly different animal named revenge.

"Let me go, Kurama." Hiei warned.

The reply was simple and the smile in the word was not kind. "No."

Hiei began to pull his arm away but that was when Kurama stood. Hiei looked up the difference of their heights and Kurama looked down. He looked exactly like a fox now, every bit sly and every bit coniving.

"Kurama." Hiei growled.

"Hn." Kurama said and lowered his head.

When his lips touched Hiei's own, Hiei had been trying to pull away, but as soon as they touched, he went still. Kurama smiled at that. Kurama moved his lips against Hiei's mouth and Hiei moved his against Kurama's, ran his tongue over his mouth and gasped.

"I think I know your weakness, Hiei." Kurama said and pulled away.

Hiei reached for him, had enough strength to bend that face to his own for a moment, let himself savour the taste of Kurama and then Kurama had pulled away and Hiei was reaching for something that simply wasn't there.

...to be continued...


	9. Chapter 9

It was night and Kurama sat in a restaurant, next to his mother. Her fiancee and a few others ringed the table.

Someone said something and everyone laughed.

Someone said something and everyone gasped and denied.

Someone said something and everyone started to talk at once.

Kurama sat quiet, drank the soda before him and popped a sushi in his mouth. He sighed and that's when he noticed his mother hadn't laughed with the last joke or talked at the last remark. She was watching him.

He smiled at her, but she didn't seem convinced.

He kissed her cheek and said he had too much homework. He should return home.

"I'll be there soon." she said.

Kurama made it to the empty house quickly. He hadn't bothered taking the streets. The roof-tops were much better and he moved fast enough no one would see him. The wind in his hair, the sound of wind against his clothes, the sound of the wind screaming past in his ears...The smell of the human city, the concrete a hundred stories long beneath him, the sounds of the human city...

His foot hit the edge of a sky-scrapper, he crouched and jumped in a single motion, flinging himself into a freefall.

As he walked into the house, his hair was a little wind-swept, but there was no other proof of his activities.

He was very good at hiding such proof.

He made it up to his room and didn't bother turning on the light. The moonlight came through the window. He reached up a hand and the tree reached a branch through the window. A leaf just turning from green to red fell to the floor.

It wasn't such a bad ruse, this life, he conceeded, as far as ruses go.

He remebered the way his heart had beat when he thought Hiei would reveal the truth to his mother.

He closed his eyes. "She will never discover the truth." he whispered and the tree brushed against his clenched hand in concern.

Kurama opened his eyes and they settled on the moon.

Why did that fact bother him so?

Could it be that he wanted her to know?

He laughed. What purpose would that serve? A voice in his head that sounded very much like Hiei's sneered, "_Where is the logic in that, Fox_?"

Kurama sighed.

The fire demon was wiser than Kurama gave him credit for.

Kurama looked out the window. Hiei had vanished that morning after Kurama had had his little revenge on him.

Now, could it be, that Kurama was regreting that little manuever?

Kurama shook his head. "Enough." he said to his thoughts. He crossed the room and changed, running fingers across the two slashes on his chest and the third across the span of his firm belly.

He lay down on his bed and closed his eyes and somewhere between his thoughts of Hiei, his mother and the moon, he fell asleep.

...to be continued...


	10. Chapter 10

But not for long.

There came faint the sound of something stirring in the house and just behind that the faint pulse of youki.

Kurama's eyes slid open.

He listened for a moment. His mother hadn't come home yet. He had in fact only been asleep a little while.

He reached into his hair and pulled out a rose.

From close by came the sound of someone rumaging, tossing, breaking.

He snuck down the stairs and beheld the living room, now a mess and two one-eyed demons crouching and tossing items between each other.

"Rose whip!" Kurama commanded and the whip did its job.

He inspected them and couldn't imagine why they had come in. They were scavangers, following in the wake of powerful demons in hopes of left-overs.

It was then that his shoulders tensed.

Something else was in the room. He hadn't felt it until now. He cursed his injuries, his lack of attention as warm power ran across his arms and a low voice said, "Kurama."

Kurama turned and saw nothing. "Who are you?" he demanded. "Show yourself."

There came a laugh. "No." it said.

Kurama's eyes were searching the shadows and only slowly did he see it. The glint of its eyes was what he noticed first, cold and dead. Then the glint of its teeth, point and sharp, smiling. "Time to die, Fox."

"I would prefer not." Kurama answered and raised the whip.

"Doesn't matter." Kurama raced towards the voice and sliced with the whip.

"What?" he said, surprised. There had been no connection, nothing. He had hit nothing but the air and the shadows.

"Kurama..." it hissed.

"What do you want?"

"You." It was behind him, but Kurama couldn't move fast enough to stop it. It wrapped one hand around his throat and the other pulled through his hair. "Beautiful Kitsune."

Kurama struggled against it, but that hand around his throat tightened and his breath chocked. His vision was growing dim. "No." he whispered.

The protest fell on uncaring ears.

The demon laughed and Kurama's mind raced.

His capture's voice was in his ear. "Do you hear that, Kurama? Listen. Listen."

"What...?" He said and for his efforts he was shaken effortlessly.

"Listen..."

Kurama listened. The front door was opening. Someone was removing their shoes. The soft scent of perfume wafted on their air.

Kurama redoubled his efforts.

"What is this?" the demon whispered. "Now you are truly trying to get away? What does the human matter, Kurama?" There was a faint laugh. "She is not truly your mother, Kurama. What does she matter? I shall kill her as soon as she enters this room."

"No."

"No? What else should I do?" The demon laughed. "Oh, there is lots I can do."

"Why...?"

"Why? Do I need a reason? I know who you are. I know your power. I want to do this." His eye lingered on Kurama's face. "When does there need to be sense? Few things make sense to me, Kurama. I am random, Kurama. I kill and I kill and that makes sense to me."

Kurama listened and struggled blindly, using everything to get away and not gaining an inch. A faint part of him understood the demon's word.

"Don't!" He gasped.

"Don't what?" The demon said.

"Kill her." Kurama's struggled ceased.

"Why?"

"She...she..." Kurama said. His mother was mere steps away. He could see her shadow on the floor. The moonlight was filling the hallway. What was he going to say? "She is precious to me."

The demon laughed.

"Shuiichi?"

Kurama looked across the distance of space. His mother stood beneath a halo of moonlight, her face just widening with surprise and Kurama hung in the arms of a demon in the shadows of the room.

He turned his face away from her.

"Shuiichi?"

"Mother." Kurama said.

The demon laughed and laughed and laughed until it was the only sound in the room, in the house, in the moment of time that the three occupied.

A moment holding its breath.

...to be continued...


	11. Chapter 11

"Shuiichi?" Kurama's mother whispered. Her hands were against her mouth. It must have been too dark to see the demon, but she, as Kurama had, must have seen its eyes and the fingers around Kurama's throat.

She took a step towards him.

"No, Mother!" Kurama shouted.

"Mother?" the demon roared. "Mother? This human is your mother, Kurama. Don't say anymore I might laugh myself to death."

"Shuiichi?" She was crying now.

Kurama was silent. He was working a hand slowly behind his head. The demon was too distracted by his laughing and his sneers to notice.

"She is my mother." Kurama said as his fingers slipped over a seed.

"A demon with a mother!" The demon laughed. "You are weak, Kurama. Weak and foolish. I thought I would enjoy your death, but now..."

It stopped.

Its words hung.

Then, it gasped and blood pooled from its lips.

Kurama's mother screamed and Kurama stared into her two wide eyes. In his hand he held the seed he had pulled from his hair. A monster from a place far away, the plant quickly grew and its two branches, like two sharp claws both struck the demon's chest at the same time and with a gargled cry from the demon, they burrowed through, wrapping around the heart and with a single, terrible move, wretched it, beating from the creature's chest.

The demon sputtered blood and for a moment before its eyes turned dim, it gazed at Kurama, hating, scorning. The hand around his throat loosened, but its other hand took one final, fatal slice.

"Traitor." it whispered as Kurama gasped and went pale.

"Perhaps." Kurama said and the demon fell without another word.

Kurama touched his own chest where the demon had cut into him. Blood soaked his shirt already. His eyes sought his mother. She still stood in the impossibly bright light of the moon, her face pale and her eyes overflowing.

"Shuiichi?"

Kurama blinked slowly. "No...." he whispered. "No....that is not...."

Kurama fell forward.

He was glad for the darkness. It wrapped him in perfect, secret darkness and he didn't have to see that look in his mother's eyes anymore.

"Shuiichi!"

...to be continued...


	12. Chapter 12

"Shuiichi?" Kurama's mother whispered.

The room was utterly silent. The night wind blew through the broken glass of a window. It was cold.

"Shuiichi?"

She hadn't moved.

Her body was shaking. Her eyes were opened and disbelieving.

What...what had she seen?

"Shuiichi!"

"Stop screaming, woman." A voice said.

Kurama's mother uncovered the hands from her eyes.

A familiar figure stood in front of her. His red eyes were the same as before, his face smooth, his mouth a downward seeking hook. But the look on his face was different.

"Hiei?" She whispered and stood.

"Hn." Hiei said.

"Hiei....Shuiichi....."

Hiei turned from her as she ran passed and crouched beside her son, brushing his hair away from his face. "Shuiichi?" she said. "Shuiichi, can you hear me? Please....Shuiichi..." She lowered her head and began to cry.

"What a surprise." Hiei said and Kurama's mother turned to him. She could only see a sillouhette in the dark. He was reaching up towards his forehead as he spoke. "He thought you would fear him if you discovered....What would he say now to see you crying over him, woman?"

"Hiei...?" she said, voice broken. "We have to get him to a hospital. Please, call the ambulance. Please....Shuiichi..."

"He will live." Hiei said and stepped into the light. "He has lived and lived. Perhaps that is all he knows how to do anymore."

Kurama's mother's eyes widened. "Hiei?" she gasped and pulled her unconscious son closer.

Hiei gazed down at her with a strange expression. Contempt and disgust there, but something else, a softness around his eyes, a break in the hard set of his features she had seen that morning. Sorrow. As she looked, something changed on his forehead, at first she thought it was a trick of the light. She was wrong.

Kurama's mother looked into the jagan. "Forget, woman. This night for you was nothing but a nightmare." The woman's eyes grew heavy and her hand reached out to Kurama and as she surreneded to Hiei's power, her hand curled around her son's hand.

...to be continued...


	13. Chapter 13

When Kurama woke it was morning.

He groaned at the sting in his chest and looked down to see his shirt had been removed and fresh bandages covered him.

"Alive, Fox?" A voice said.

It took Kurama a moment to find the owner of those words. "Hiei." he said.

The little demon stood just beside the bed, gazing down with his hands crossed over his chest. The jagan was open and wide. Kurama turned away from him and closed his eyes.

"My mother..." he began.

"What about her?"

"She....saw me..."

"So?"

Kurama said nothing. He was staring at his hands. "She saw me kill the demon. She saw that I..."

"Hn." Hiei said.

"What can I do, Hiei? She looked at me like....a monster....a..."

"Demon." Hiei provided.

"Yes." was the soft reply. Kurama turned and peered out the window of the room. At least he had saved her. At least he had done that much. He could no longer stay here. He was free. He could disgard this life and run home, never look back. Free.

Why did that word sound so empty?

Perhaps because "free" sounded so close to "alone".

Kurama covered his face, his green eyes filling with tears.

Hiei sneered, "You are a demon." Kurama said nothing. It was true. "But...you are wrong."

"About what?" It was then that there was a knock at the door. Kurama looked questioning up at Hiei, but the fire demon had turned away and was securing the bandana around his jagan. "Hiei....who...."

The door opened and Kurama's mother entered. In her hand she carried two plates sizzling with breakfast. She set one down and paused at the look Kurama was giving her. Then, to Kurama's wonder, she smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Feeling?" Kurama said, not knowing what to say.

She reached out and touched his forehead. "Your fever is gone. Your friend is very nice to have watched over you when you fell ill. You really should have told me at the restaurant you were sick, Shuiichi."

"Mother...I..."

Hiei interuppted and Kurama couldn't believe what he was saying. "He didn't want to worry you, Ms. Minamino."

She smiled and tussled his hair. "My dear son." she said. "You would do something like that, but next time, tell me. Please."

Hiei was grinning and it wasn't even a total sneer. "Yes, 'Shuiichi', next time, do tell."

What else could Kurama say? "Yes, mother."

She smiled and Kurama smiled back, utterly and totally confused.

When she had left, he turned to Hiei. "Hn." The Jiganshi said. "I helped her forget a few things."

"Oh."

"What is with that look. Did you want her to know?"

"I...no..." Kurama said and looked away. "But..." But part of him had hoped she had. He couldn't have it both ways. To have his mother's love, he would always have to hide away a piece of himself. "She must have been very....terrified." He said, and thought, _She must have been horrified, disgusted, **revolted**_.

Hiei's head tilted. "She is not what I expected." he said.

"Hiei?"

Hiei turned to him and his almond eyes narrowed. "For a human, she is..." He stopped himself.

Kurama smiled.

Hiei was staring at him. Kurama stared back. Hiei broke the stillness first. He leaned forward and captured Kurama's mouth. The Fox let him. This was just a way to thank the Jiganshi for what he had obviously done. His mother wouldn't know yet, perhaps never, but Hiei's faint compliments spoke volumes of what had occured. It gave him hope.

So Kurama opened his mouth to the demon, let his arms hold him closer. So he let Hiei run his fingers through his hair and use his tongue to do wicked things. So he let himself moan as the kiss deepened and Hiei's sharp teeth found his tongue and bit down. So he let Hiei draw on his mouth as one dying of thirst.

Hiei hadn't come to terms with his new taste for youko blood. That is why he held on for so long, his chest heaving. The small whimpers coming from his throat were only false desire.

So they both lied.

The kiss continued.

The masks they both wore were still in place, but something had shifted.

Perhaps another day just what would be given a name.

But not yet.

**FIN**

'the end'

Author's Note: To those of you wondering, this story will continue. The next story/ies will focus on Hiei's jagan and the youko-blood addiction delema. More stuff too, just have to think it up! Hope you enjoyed the story!

Author's Plea: Please Review!

Author's Final Word on the Matter: Thank you very much! :)


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